Relieve debt or encourage trade? Give aid or fight corruption? Condone or oppose commercial game hunting? The debate about how to relieve poverty in Africa seems unmanageably complex. The Live 8 gigs this Saturday and G8 meeting next week will focus attention on getting world leaders to address the problem, but still leave individuals wondering what they should do to help.

But there is one straightforward way we can help relieve poverty: go on holiday. Tourism rarely figures in the key political and economic discussions, yet the industry's potential to reduce poverty is enormous. As Justin Francis of responsibletravel.com said: 'UK tourists spend about £2bn on holiday in developing countries - that's comparable to the UK government's aid budget.'

With many hotels and tour companies foreign-owned, much of the tourists' money never reaches the poorest people. But the new phenomenon of so-called 'community-based tourism' provides an alternative. Growing numbers of these projects are being set up across the continent, run by small communities which profit directly and use the funds for essential development work.

'Community-based projects are an integral part of the future of tourism in Africa,' says Neil Birnie, director of Wilderness Scotland, which organises walking safaris in Kenya. 'More and more of our clients select their Africa tour operator on this basis, so we know the market is there.'

Although community tourism may not pose an immediate threat to the mainstream safari market, it is growing. 'Community tourism may not suit the people who come to Africa expecting the "Big Five" and the cracking of ice cubes as the sun goes over the yardarm,' says Vicky Stirling of specialist operator Farside Africa. 'But, from the top-end Masai-owned safari lodges in northern Kenya to the township tours of Soweto, the breadth and scope of community tourism means that many tourists can do at least part of their trip on this basis. And there is no better way to get your money into the pockets of the African people.'

Crucially, community tourism also has a relationship with conservation. In many parts of Africa, involving tribespeople in tourism has led to better protection for wildlife and the environment. 'Go on holiday and save the world' may sound like a title of a Ben Elton sketch, but the idea seems to be catching on. Here are eight community-based tourism initiatives to tempt you.

1 Kawaza Village South Luangwa, Zambia

Robin Pope Safaris, one of Zambia's leading safari companies, started supporting a school in the village of Nsefu 13 years ago. Many guests visited the school, but wanted to stay on, so the Kawaza Village project was born.

Up to 12 guests can now stay in this subsistence-farming village. Accommodation is in traditional huts and entertainment is the daily grind: drawing water, hoeing fields, cooking dinner, visiting the chief and sitting round the fire listening to the elders tell stories. There are few concessions to luxury, though mattresses, mosquito nets and a 'thunderbox' toilet are provided, as is an English-speaking host.

A committee of villagers and teachers runs the project, while Robin Pope Safaris helps with marketing. The income helps support the village and run the school, and guests are encouraged to bring photographs and stories from home, making this an exchange to broaden everyone's horizons.

How to do it: A night at Kawaza Village costs from £68 (including £22 donation to the school) through www.robinpopesafaris.net.

2 Damaraland Camp Huab Valley, Kunene Region, Namibia

Damaraland is an unforgiving place: a vast area of desert dunes, bare plains and valleys. But in this arid wilderness, a rare human relationship is flourishing.

Damaraland Camp is a joint venture between the Riemvasmaker people and Wilderness Safaris (an enlightened South African company specialising in low-impact nature tourism). The fruit of the relationship is a wildlife conservancy, owned by the community, and a camp which has become the benchmark for schemes across the country. The project draws together wildlife conservation, community development and eco-tourism - the Holy Trinity of sustainable tourism.

Accommodation is in comfortable tents with verandas facing the valley and the Brandberg Massif, 100 kilometres away. There is a dining room and pub under canopy and on calm nights a pit-fire burns.

The wildlife is varied and spread out, but with skill and patience you might see oryx, springbok, cheetah and the endangered desert black rhino. In time, this long-term viable business will be turned over entirely to the community.

How to do it: Damaraland Camp - from £160 per night fully inclusive/£95 dinner, bed and breakfast: www.wilderness-safaris.com. Travel itineraries in Namibia can be booked through Tim Best Travel (020 7591 0300).

3 Soweto The Soweto Bed & Breakfast Association

In the 1980s, whites visited Soweto (short for South Western Townships) by invitation only, often peeping out from under a blanket in the back of a car. Now cultural tours of the place that remains synonymous with opposition to apartheid are booming.

First stop is the highly praised Hector Pieterson Museum (named after the first boy shot in the 1976 youth uprising). Then move on to Nelson Mandela's house, Bishop Desmond Tutu's house and Winnie Mandela's palace, before stopping for dumplings and curried goat in Wandie's Place.

The residents of Soweto come from all over South Africa and it remains a cultural melting pot with a special vibe that comes alive in the evening.

Several go-ahead women in the district of Orlando have started B&Bs, collectively marketed as the Soweto Bed and Breakfast Association. Neo's, Botle Guesthouse and many more offer a good standard of accommodation and tremendous hospitality.

This is not strictly a community-based conservation project, but the money is going straight in where it is needed.

How to do it:Rainbow Tours (020 7226 1004) offer sightseeing in Soweto and Johannesburg packages, inclusive of accommodation, meals, entrances and airport transfers for £85 per day. Or book accommodation direct at: www.sowetobedandbreakfast.co.za.

4 Mequat Mariam Ethiopia

Tesfa, a small Ethiopian non-governmental organisation, has helped two communities of Amhara people establish small lodges in the mountains of Lasta, in the north of the country. The vision is to create a network of community-run, commercially viable and sustainable guesthouses that link a long distance trekking route in the stunning landscapes around Lalibela, home of the world famous monolithic rock-hewn churches.

These communities make an increasingly precarious living from farming. The first two lodges (at Mequat and Wajela - a day's walk apart) are built in the local 'tukul' hut-style and set in fabulous positions on rocky escarpments at 2,800m.

A three-day trek, along rocky ridges, through juniper forests (where lammergeyers have been spotted) and past several churches, is the best way to experience them. Both have restaurants, outdoor fires and well-stocked bars. The staggering views from the toilets were enough to impress Brad Pitt, who stayed recently.

Northern Kenya has been at the forefront of developing community-based tourism. Kalacha was set up in 1999 with a bequest in the will of John Sutton, one of the last big game hunters. The camp, in an oasis on the edge of the Chalbi desert, 65 kilometres south of the Ethiopian border, is run by the hardy, semi-nomadic Gabbra people who rely on the profits of the lodge to finance local development projects.

The camp consists of four A-frame bandas or huts and a mess area in a palm grove. The remoteness of the location, the desert heat, the frontier feel and the colourfully dressed Gabbra women create a great sense of adventure. The Gabbra were renowned and skilful hunters and the ban on big game hunting threatened their way of life. Kalacha has gone some way to ensure their traditional lifestyle can be sustained.

This project was developed by a diverse partnership including Cafédirect and the Department for International Development. The premise was to provide coffee-growing Chagga people with a steady income when the price of their commodity plummets.

Kahawa Shamba is a traditional, small coffee farm on a ridge overlooking the Weruweru gorge. On a clear day, there are dramatic views of the summit of Kilimanjaro.

Accommodation is in traditional Chagga huts thatched with banana leaves, though there are plenty of concessions to western comfort inside. The Chagga families host the farm and a stay here is profoundly insightful into their way of life. Guided walks and horseback rides explore the lush, hilly countryside.

Alternatively, Kahawa Shamba would be a good spot to warm up for, or rest after, climbing the mighty cloud-catcher, Kilimanjaro.

How to do it: For more information: www.kirurumu.com/kahawa. Five-night itineraries in Tanzania, with two nights at Kahawa Shamba, based on sharing a twin room, excluding flights, cost £975. For information contact www.responsibletravel.com.

7 Xai-Xai VillageBotswana

There are only 400 people in the remote village of Xai-Xai, 10km east of the Namibian border, but 80 per cent of them are San and Basarwa bushmen - the paradigm of the primitive hunter-gatherer that continues to intrigue the western imagination.

The bushmen in Xai-Xai wear clothes, have permanent huts, work and attend school. However, their knowledge of the animals and plants of the Kalahari remains remarkable and the Cgaecgae Tlhabololo Trust was set up to develop tourist projects that celebrate this.

Cultural tourism is part of a web of community initiatives that includes a crafts organisation, a shop and the sale of hunting quotas to safari companies (conservation is never straightforward).

Small groups of guests spend two or three days in the bush: the men go out tracking and snaring animals and the women learn how to identify and gather plants and other products from the land.

Dealing with tourists is nothing new for the people of Xai-Xai: they have been receiving anthropologists for nearly 40 years and their survival now depends heavily on cultural tourism.

Nkwichi Lodge, on the idyllic, sugar-white, western shores of Lake Malawi (called Lake Nyasa in Mozambique) is the smart, tourist interface of a massively ambitious project to develop the community in one of the most impoverished and least populated places in Africa.

After 40 years of war, Mozambique desperately needs help, so the Manda Wilderness Trust, which runs Nkwichi Lodge, was set up. Four of the five directors of the Trust work for NGOs across the world, so they have been able to draw on wide experience.

A 600-square km wildlife reserve has been created in alliance with local communities. The ecosystem is recovering and game - elephant, sable, leopard and African wild dog - is returning.

The sustainable agriculture project aims to improve nutrition in the villages and generate income from the sale of surplus crops and vegetables to the lodge. Various development projects have been instituted: finance comes from the trust and the communities provide the labour.

As a guest at the lodge, you can explore the reserve and visit the demonstration farm and communities. Alternatively you can canoe, snorkel, sail, eat, drink and idle away your time in the knowledge that you are helping simply by being there.